Fortunately, you don't need to invest in fancy SEO tools or keep up with the latest trends just to get some Google love.

You just need to follow these SEO tips specifically designed for people that hate SEO.

Tip #1: Include Keywords in Your Blog Post Titles

I know that you want to craft blog post headlines that grab attention, evoke curiosity and get clicks.

I get that.

But
if you don't strategically include high-volume keywords in your blog
post title (and specifically in your page's title tag), you're leaving A
LOT of search engine traffic on the table.

The best part?

With a little creativity, you can create titles that satisfy users and search engines.

Your first step is to find keywords that your target audience uses to search for your blog post's topic (in fact, keyword research is a great place to brainstorm blog post topics).

The best way to do that is to use the Google Keyword Planner Tool (you'll need a free Adwords account to use it). Just enter a few keywords that describe what you're writing about into the tool:

And see what keywords come up that have decent -- but not too much -- search volume (also known as long tail keywords).

Include that keyword in your eye-catching title (preferably at the beginning). Copyblogger.com has amazing resources on creating SEO-friendly headlines that also get clicks.

Tip #2: Get Mentioned on Link Roundups

Link
roundups -- weekly or monthly features on blogs -- are excellent
opportunities to get more referral traffic for your blog's social media
friendly content. And there are roundups in almost every niche, from internet marketing to health and fitness.

But
it's also an excellent link building strategy. Because when you get
mentioned on a link roundup (as the name suggests), you also get a
quality, contextual link back to your site (which are the types of links
that Google likes to see).

Here are some search strings you can use to find link roundups in your niche:

"keyword" + "weekly roundup"

"keyword" + "recap"

"keyword roundup"

"keyword" + "friday roundup"

When you find a site that might want to feature your content in their next roundup, hit them up with this script:

Infographics are a bread and butter content marketing startegy that can do wonders for your blog's brand awareness.

While they do require a lot of work -- and a budget for a pro graphic designer -- the ROI is often spectacular.

And
when people share your infographic -- or embed it on their site --
they'll often link back to you (you can get even more backlinks and
exposure for your infographic by submitting your infographic to popular
infographic directories, like Visual.ly).

To ensure that people do link to you when sharing your infographic, you can create an embed code using this free Wordpress plugin.
When you do, you'll have an embed code box on your site that people can
use to easily use to publish your infographic on their site.

When
another blogger uses this code, it will automatically post a backlink
back to your site:

Like
with any form of content marketing, you need to hustle to get the word
out about your infographic using email outreach. With the hundreds of
infographics that come out everyday, publishing your infographic on your
site and tweeting about it isn't enough.

Tip #4: Guest Post More Often

You probably already know that guest posting is one of the best ways to drive targeted traffic to your site.

But when you publish a guest post, you're also building one way links to your blog.

The key to getting the most SEO value from guest posting is to point your links at a post on your site...not just your homepage.

I've found that this also increases CTR as well because the reader already knows what they're going to get by clicking.

For example, instead of an author bio like this:

"Jane is the founder of MommyBloggingHQ.com, where she blogs about..."

You'd want to include something like:

"Looking for more ways to turn blog visitors into subscribers? Then check out my Ultimate Guide to Blog Conversions".

Tip #5: Get Featured on Resource Pages

Resource pages are simply lists of links to helpful content that the webmaster deems worthy.

And
because these lists curate the best stuff on the web, they usually get a
decent amount of traffic. If you have something excellent to add to
their page, most site owners are happy to fire up Wordpress and add your
link.

In fact, some resource page curators even include an email address or form to make it easy for you to suggest your site:

Simple, right?

Even
better, these resource pages are heavily linked to (both from internal
and external pages). This means that they have a little extra SEO "umph"
to send to your site.

You can find resource pages with ease using these handy search strings:

"keyword" + inurl:resource

"keyword" + "helpful resources"

"keyword" + "useful resources"

So if you want to get more search engine traffic without having to worry about Google's menacing updates, you now have your guide.

About the Author

Brian Dean is the link building expert behind Backlinko, a growing hub for link builders and SEO pros. There he posts expert insights, powerful link building strategies, and exclusive case studies to help business owners and SEOs get more search engine traffic. He's been knee deep in SEO since 2008. Since then he's launched a number of profitable authority sites and consulted for businesses of all shapes and sizes. When he's not link building for his sites or for his clients he's usually backbacking through Asia or Europe. If you want to read cutting edge SEO content you should follow him on Twitter.

Comments(13)

There are people who hate SEO thinking that it will cost them a lot of money and effort.

But with these SEO tips one can invest into something without the need to spend a lot of money and stay up to date with the latest SEO trips.

Just follow them and you are on your way to success. Remember, do not listen to people who only give you negative hopes.

Brian,
Couldn’t agree more that many SMB's are confused and have all but given up on SEO.

We tell clients to focus on content creation that answers their users needs through available tools - outstanding SEO results are the reward.

For SMB’s (service oriented) to be competitive in the future, good content should be integrated into their branded website and also be shared socially to have maximum reach.

Prospective service customers look for a local SMB when a problem arises. That’s when they turn to search engines.

How Do You Provide The Answers to Problems?

The best way to describe the new take on keywords is to be conversational in nature with anything you’re writing. Describe what you’re doing; capture what your customers think about what you’re doing. Talk like you would in a face-to-face conversation.

1. Customer Reviews, otherwise known as testimonials:

They can be embedded within your website, captured on external sites or obtained in the form of videos.

2. Staff activity summaries

These summaries from your team describe what they do to solve your customer’s problems.

These two types of user generated content allow a company to engage in a “conversation” with a searcher about what your company is doing—and what your customers feel about it.

Where should this content end up - and how can it help SEO ?

User-generated, dynamic content is extremely valuable if it is published in the right places. There are two destinations every service SMB should focus on getting their content to:

1. SMB company branded website:

After basic SEO, every local SMB needs to maximize their potential exposure to prospects by integrating their real-time, dynamic user-generated content directly into their branded website. This is the best way to marry structured data to keyword relevance. We recommend all content be embedded in the site using proper schema and other markup conventions. For even more impact, consider segmenting the structured data by location, staff member or other variable the users may find useful.

2. Social sharing

As appropriate, user-generated content should also be shared through the social media destinations most relevant to the company vertical.

Recap:

Instead of asking how you can rank better on search engines, think about how you can better answer your prospects’ questions.

Simply put, tell a story about what problems you solve and how well you solve them. “Talk” to those in need in your local area.

Here is a checklist:

Understand who is asking for your help and what problems they are asking about.

Update your site with quality, conversational content from your two sets of user-generated content.

Add the use of a legitimate third-party review platform. We recommend reviews be embedded in your site using proper schema markup convention.

Use a third-party product that allows your team to provide job summary detail with location included.

With the right user-generated content placed properly onto your website, Google, Bing and Yahoo will take notice and you get the SEO benefit .

Very informative post.You have shared really some great points in this post. By using these tips one can invest into something without the need to spend a lot of money. One thing i would like to add, always try to make your website user friendly. Make sure your website contents are really quality, unique & theme based.

Great list. Yeah, there's nothing glamorous about doing SEO. But if you're going to do SEO you might as well take the time and do it the right way. The problem is that people are all about instant results these days. I take the approach of just doing a little bit each day. And eventually over a few months, you will have built a very strong foundation that few can compete with simply because they weren't willing to put in the time.

As Greg said a lot of people expect instant results in today's word which has opened the seo industry to the black hat world. But this is the reason that I think the google updates are a good thing as they in a way help clean up our industry

As said by Paul, those Individuals or SMBs expect instant results as they might have gained in their past practicing those manipulative link acquisition strategies might fell hard for them to get ranked or may be so far they would have been de-indexed.

They would be working on new domains with the same processes as they did earlier which is not helping them in getting results as expected. That could be the reason they are frustrated.

For those who always believed - "Content is King" concept, who always added value to the Internet community with unique approach & thinking, are still into action. For last 2 years, I am seeing how people are being Social in their Identities. How they are evolving as Brand in Social communities using great business profiles, research work presentation from different sources in forms of "Infographics".

It's disappointing that people are losing their rankings on Google due to few major updates. For a moment anyone can lose his/her mind too as a negative result of their SEO activities. I must accept that people are engaged in SEO activities very dedicately... but ...as said, if you are good at driving you must have driving license, It will not only help you in keeping away from legal penalties but will keep you informed about the best practices in driving.

If we are into SEO & still doing so called "Link Building" through Black Hat Techniques, undoubtedly we will be slapped in coming more updates.

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